Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros. is a sidescrolling video game for the NES that was released in 1985. It is generally excepted as being one of the most important video games of all time, as it stopped the video game crash of the 80's, thus saving the, at the time, unsuccessful industry. The game features smooth and responsive scrolling levels that the industry's most recognizable hero, Mario, could explore (of course, you could also play as his slightly younger brother Luigi). It has since been countlessly overused by competing (and in some cases non-competing) developers in terms of gameplay. Such examples of this is the overly successful Sonic the Hedgehog whom was considered Mario's, or in realism Nintendo's main competition. However, the obvious winner was Mario, as SEGA failed to receive as many sales, and was forced (not literally) to create games for their previous competitors. Plot One day Bowser, the evil king koopa, and all of his tribe of Koopa Troopas, along with a gang of other enemies, invaded the peaceful Mushroom Kingdom and turned all of the residents, or Toads into stones, mushrooms, and blocks. The only one that was able to stop the magic spell and return them to normal is Princess Peach, whom was also captured by Bowser. Mario and his brother, Luigi, two plumbers, hear about this, and plan a quest to save the Princess, and the Toads from the evil Bowser. Mario and Luigi then go out, only to be encountered by a huge gang of enemies including Goombas and Koopa Troopas. They hit a block and find a Super Mushroom that makes them much bigger, and stronger, and also have more health. They use this ability to crash through blocks, and more. After this, they find a Fire Flower, which gives them the ability to shoot fireballs from there hand. Now, with these new items, and there powers, they will have to go through 8 worlds to help save the princess and the Toads. At the end of the last world, you will encounter Bowser, whom will start shooting fire balls as well as throwing hammers. You will have to get under him and hit the switch to make him fall inside a lava pit, or hit him with fireballs. After Mario defeats Bowser, he will go into a room where the princess is waiting. She kisses him on the cheek and thanks him for saving the Mushroom Kingdom. Gameplay , an example of the overworld theme.]] The gameplay is one of the reasons why the game is so popular. The gameplay consists of you being able to jump very high, along with that, you can control how high you want to go, and if you run, you will get more air time. If you run, not only will you be able to jump higher and farther, but also you will be able to run right over small gaps. If you collect a mushroom, you'll become bigger, allowing you to not only have more health, but also be able to crash through blocks. If you get a Fire Flower, you will be able to shoot fire balls from your hand, and be able to do everything you could with a Mushroom. Rarely, a starman will pop out of a block when you hit it, if it does, you will rapidly change colors and be invincible, along with being able to run much faster. Blocks and collectables in video games (namely platformers) have become a popular cliché in the world of video games after Super Mario Bros. was released. There are many diffrent themes in the game, such as the overworld theme (shown above.) and the castle theme (shown below.), the full list of themes in the game can be seen below. The following is a list of moves that Mario is able to do. Characters Playable *Mario - After Mario learns that the Princess has been captured by Bowser, he goes straight off to save her. In the game, he will be able to jump very high, throw fire balls, run fast, and face tons of enemies. *Luigi - Luigi will join Mario, though his techniques are the exact same. The only diffrence is that Mario has red cloths while Luigi has green. Major Non-Playable *Princess Peach - In the game, Princess Peach will get kidnapped by Bowser, and taken into his castle. Mario will then have to go through 8 worlds to save her. *Toad - Diffrent Toads will be captured and taken into the first 7 castles waiting for Mario to come and save them. *Bowser - Bowser has taken control of the Mushroom Kingdom, and kidnapped all of the residents other than Mario and Luigi. Now the brothers will have to defeat Bowser to bring back peace to the land. *Fake Bowser - Fake Bowser's will appear at the end of every world other than the last one. They are regular enemies with Bowser disguses on to fool you. Enemies *Koopa Troopa - A turtle-like enemy that can be a projectile if jumped on first. There are two types of them, a green one and a red one. The green ones will run off the edge while the red will stay put on the platform he is on. If you jump on them and then leave them like that, they will come back out of there shell. *Koopa Paratroopa - A flying Koopa Troopa that will jump up and down. Like the regular Koopas, these are either red or green. The green ones will jump off the edge while the red ones will jump back and forth on the platform he's on. *Goomba - The most common enemy that will only try to run into you. They will somtimes attack in groups, where you will be able to kill them all while jumping once. *Lakitu - Lakitu's are Koopas that sit atop clouds throwing Spinys at you. If you manage to kill one, you can ride the cloud. *Spiny - Spinys are the enemy that Lakitus throw at you. They are red Koopas that have spines on there back, meaning that you can't kill them by jumping on them. In fact, they'll harm you if you jump on them! *Buzzy Beetle - A beatle that is like a Koopa Troopa, except the only way to kill it is to knock it off an edge, hit it with a shell, or to ram into it while in possession with a Starman. *Piranha Plant - A carnivorous plant that will pop out of pipes trying to bite you. There are red kinds, and green kinds. The red ones will stay in there pipe if you're right next to it, while the green ones will still come in and out. *Bullet Bill - A bullet that will be shot out of a cannon toward you. *Hammer Bros. - A pair of Koopa brothers that will throw hammers. Even though you will usually find them in pairs, they will also sometimes fight solo. *Cheep Cheep - A fish that will try to swim into you. *Blooper - A squid that will try to swim into you. *Podoboo - A fire ball that will pop out of lava. Items *'1-Up Mushroom' - Once you find a 1-Up Mushroom, you will have one more life. *'Coin' - Coins are scattered through out almost every level. Once you find and collect 100 of these, you will have an extra life. *'Fire Flower' - Once your Super Mario, you will be able to find Fire Flowers inside blocks. Once you do, you will be able to shoot fire balls out of your hand. *'Normal Block' - These are brick blocks that can be crashed through if your Super Mario. *'Starman' - Once you find a Starman, you will become invincible for a short amount of time. *'Super Mushroom' - Once you find a Super Mushroom, you will be able to crash through blocks, you will also have more energy as well. *'Warp Pipe' - Warp Pipes lead you to other areas. Types of Levels Note: These are the types of levels that were in the original game, and not the remakes. Some of the remakes include a snow world, and others. *'Overworld/Grassy' - The main types of levels are the grassy ones, or Overworld. The sky is blue, the main platform are brick blocks and grass, and there are trees. The common enemies here are Goombas,Para-Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Hammer Bros, Lakitus, Spinys, Bullet Bills, Piranha Plants, Buzzy Beetles, and Koopa Para-troopas. *'Underground' - Underground areas are dark, and feature many secrets such as getting above the ceiling, and the warp zones. Every sprite in here has a blue or other darker color, including Mario. There are tons of blocks, which meens its a good idea to be Super Mario in here. Common enemies include Buzzy Beetles, Koopa Troopas, Goombas, spinys and Piranha Plants. *'Underwater' - Underwater areas are very blue, and have a lot of coral and water plants. This is the only area where the gameplay increaingly changes. Instead of running and jumping, Mario will now swim. Common enemies are Bloopers and Cheep Cheeps. *'Lava/Castle' - Castles, or lava areas, will be the last type of level in each world. In these areas, there will be many lava pits, and castle bricks surrounding you. Common enemies include Podoboos, Bowser, and Fake Bowsers. *'Bridge' - The bridge levels feature a huge outside bridge, with occasional grassy platforms. Common enemies include Cheep Cheeps, Koopas, and Goombas. *'Mushroom Platforms' - These types of levels take place on many diffrent types of huge mushrooms. The common enemies include Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Hammer Bros, Lakitus, Spinys, Bullet Bills and ParaKoopas. *'Dark Overworld' - Sometimes, the grassy/overworld will be nighttime. This does not effect the gameplay in anyway. The common enemies include Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Hammer Bros, Lakitus, Spinys, Bullet Bills, Piranha Plants, Buzzy Beetles, and Koopa Para-troopas. *'Clouds' - Sometimes, you will be able to go to a cloud area, which is on clouds. Here, there are many coins, and absolutly no enemies whatsoever. Warpzone One of the popular things you can do in the game is the Warp Zone. If you find a warp zone, it will take you to an area with a certain amount of pipes, each pipe is numbered, depending on the number on the pipe, it will take you to the world number when you enter it. To get to the warpzone, you usually must find it by jumping above certain blocks, or finding vines to climb up. There are only 3 warp zones, one in world 1, and 2 in world 4. The warp zones are all found within underground levels, though the Level 4-2 Warpzone takes you to an area above ground, and onto mushroom platforms. Warp Zone Locations *Level 1-2 - Found by going above the ceiling. *Level 4-2 - Found by jumping under a block to reveal a vine. *Level 4-2 (number 2) - Found by going above the ceiling. Minus World The Minus World is one of the most famous glitches found in Super Mario Bros., and is also one of the most famous glitches in any video game. To enter the Minus World, one must reach World 1-2, be Super Mario, and continue to the end of the level. The player must not enter the pipe that leads to the flagpole. Instead, the player must jump on top of the pipe and break the second and third blocks from the right on the ceiling. Then, the player must maneuver Super Mario to the edge of the pipe so that one of his feet is hanging off. Then, making sure not to smash the block that is farthest to the right, the player must jump backwards into the left side of the block. This will cause the camera to scroll to the right. Continuing to do this will eventually cause Super Mario to be sucked into the wall. Now, the player must enter the leftmost pipe before the camera finishes scrolling. Entering the middle pipe will warp the player to World 5, while entering the leftmost pipe will allow the player to enter the Minus World. The Minus World is an underwater level that never ends. There are Coins and Bloopers in the level, and so it seems to be perfectly normal. However, entering what would appear to be the exit pipe causes the player to respawn at the beginning of the level. The player will continue to go through this looping level until the time runs out, at which point, if he or she has any lives left, the level will start again. The player will not be able to exit the Minus World until he or she either gets a Game Over or turns the console off. Interestingly, the Minus World was removed in the many remakes of Super Mario Bros. However, Nintendo brought back the popular glitch in the Virtual Console remake. Remakes *Port of Super Mario Bros. on the Famicom Disk System. *Rereleased in the Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt compilation. *Rereleased in the Super Mario Bros, Duck Hunt, and Track Meet Compilation. *Remade for Super Mario All-Stars, a game that featured this game, as well as 3 others. Included a graphics upgrade, sprite change, sound upgrade, and glitches removed. *Remade in the Super Mario All Stars remake titled Super Mario All Stars Super Mario World. *Remade on Super Mario Bros. Deluxe, with additional content. *Rereleased on the GBA as one of the Classic NES series games. *Is available on the Wii's Virtual Console in North America as of December 25, 2006. External Links *StrategyWiki.org Super Mario Bros. strategy guide. *Super Mario Bros. Headquarters *Page at the Mushroom Kingdom site *Gamestat's Page *Moby Games page Category: Mario Games Category: NES Games Category: Major Nintendo Games Category: Nintendo Developed Games Category: Virtual Console games Category: Featured articles